Three rumoured transfers that Chelsea fans should forget about this Januaryplaceholder image
Three rumoured transfers that Chelsea fans should forget about this January | Getty Images
Chelsea have been linked with a host of players ahead of the January transfer window - but which stories should their supporters ignore?
As we near the start of the January transfer window, the gossip columns are starting to fill up with stories linking the biggest teams with dozens of different players – and Chelsea’s name is coming up more than perhaps any other team in the Premier League.
Most of those stories will, inevitably, prove false. The rumour mill generates a lot of speculative or simply nonsensical links between big-name players and big teams, who would bankrupt themselves very quickly if they bought every player they were alleged to be desperately keen to sign. Working out which stories are false and which might have a grain of truth to them isn’t always easy, however.
To make life a little easier, we’ve picked out three persistent transfer rumours involving Chelsea and their potential January dealings which we believe are extremely unlikely to come to fruition. We could be wrong, and surprises do happen, but there are the tales that look rather too tall as we approach the winter window.
Nico Paz
Chelsea seem to be sincerely interest in young Argentine playmaker Paz, who has shone since signing for Serie A side Como in 2024 from Real Madrid, whose youth academy he emerged from – and a host of media outlets, such as TBR Football, have suggested that the Blues could make a big bid for the 21-year-old.
They may very well want to, but there is a big problem standing in the way: Real Madrid themselves. When they sold Paz to Como, they wisely inserted a cheap buyback clause, worth no more than €10m (£9m), and they plan to use them to bring him home to the Bernabeu, likely in June.
Fabrizio Romano is among a number of journalists who attest to Real’s desire to re-sign Paz and there is next to no chance that Chelsea (or Inter Milan, who are also said to be interested) will be able to prevent that from happening. They may well be monitoring the situation in case Real opt not to activate that clause, but it seems a near certainty that they will. It’s very unlikely that Paz moves to Stamford Bridge in 2026.
Antoine Semenyo
When news broke a couple of weeks ago that Semenyo had a release clause worth £65m in his new Bournemouth contract, a flurry of rumours immediately sprung up which linked the winger with practically every big club in the Premier League – but Chelsea are among the least likely to sign him.
Again, it’s not necessarily that they wouldn’t want to get their hands on him, although Enzo Maresca is scarcely struggling for left wingers right now, but getting such a big deal through in January would be very challenging given the club’s position with regards to UEFA’s spending rules.
When Chelsea sold their women’s team to their owners’ holding company, they created a huge amount of room under the Premier League’s PSR rules, but UEFA rules don’t allow for such manoeuvres and the club were already fined €31m (£27m) in July for going over the spending cap last season – and they are only able to register new signings in their Champions League squad if they offset the cost with sales this season. In short, they can spend £65m, but only if they can sell someone of similar value, and that seems unlikely as it stands. Or perhaps they could just pay up and gamble that UEFA simply fine them again rather than issuing a suspension. It would be a pretty big chance to take, however, and a deal for Semenyo seems highly unlikely.
Vinícius Junior
While few outlets are suggesting that Chelsea will make a bid for the Brazilian in January, there are plenty of stories suggesting that he’s on their shopping list for some time between now and next season - and the chances that he leaves Real Madrid over the next year or so have increased considerably after he reportedly told his club’s hierarchy that he would not sign a new contract amid a dispute over the salary offered and a breakdown in his relationship with manager Xabi Alonso.
The Blues are one of the few teams who could sensibly afford to make an offer which would surely come in at well over £100m, but even if they were in a position to strike such a deal next summer – when they may be in a better position with UEFA’s spending rules – it would mean tearing up their own business model, under which they look to offer relatively affordable wages to younger players in return for pinning them down to extremely lengthy contracts to protect their long-term value. Vinícius will likely expect to become one of the best-paid players on the planet, and it’s hard to be sure that he would maintain his resale value, something Chelsea care about quite a bit.
The disparity between Chelsea’s transfer model and the financial reality of a deal for Vinícius stretches the credibility of the stories, and with Saudi Arabia reportedly planning to throw cash at him to play in the Pro League (and with both Manchester City and PSG seemingly keen) there are likely to be clubs in the mix far more willing to offer Vinícius what he wants up front.
It’s also worth noting that stories circulating which suggest that Chelsea are preparing a €150m (£132m) offer for next year seem to originate from Fichajes, a Spanish gossip website who we would not personally set much stock by. It’s not impossible that Chelsea make enquiries next year, but the odds are firmly against such a transfer being agreed as it stands.
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